Written by Robin Bowerman, Head of Market Strategy and Communications at Vanguard/Board Director of the SMSF Association An estimated 77,000 self-managed super funds (SMSFs) have unmet needs for advice on estate planning. The 2018 Vanguard/Investment Trends SMSF Report confirms that estate planning is among the highest unmet needs for advice. This equates to 13 per cent of…

Written by Robin Bowerman, Head of Corporate Affairs at Vanguard Australia/Board Director of the SMSF Association What are the hardest aspects of running your self-managed super fund (SMSF)? Do they include keeping track of the seemingly-constant regulatory changes, handling the impact of those changes, choosing investments or handling your fund’s paperwork and administration? If you…

Written by Robin Bowerman, Head of Corporate Affairs at Vanguard Australia/Board Director of the SMSF Association Australia’s army of Chief Investment Officers is marching into retirement. This year’s Vanguard/Investment Trends SMSF survey shows that more than 50 per cent of the $720 billion invested in SMSFs is now being managed by retirees. The self-managed super…

Written by Robin Bowerman, Head of Corporate Affairs at Vanguard/Board Director of the SMSF Association The superannuation system exists for a sole purpose – to provide Australians income in retirement. The release this week of the Productivity Commission’s report on the efficiency and competitiveness of the super system provides a comprehensive analysis – a three-stage…

Written by Robin Bowerman, Head of Corporate Affairs at Vanguard/Board Director of the SMSF Association The approach of a new financial year is often a super crunch time. It’s a time when many investors decide whether to stay with their large super fund, switch to another big fund or setup a self-managed fund. There are,…

Written by Robin Bowerman, Head of Corporate Affairs at Vanguard/Board Director of the SMSF Association Checking your super fund’s cash flow of contributions in and pension payments out is a particularly critical part of end-of-financial-year planning for 2017-18. Don’t leave it until the last minute. Super money in Well before June 30, make sure you…

Written by Robin Bowerman, Head of Market Strategy and Communications at Vanguard/Board Director of the SMSF Association After two weeks of surprising and concerning revelations about the inner workings of some of the larger financial planning businesses in the country, it was refreshing to attend the SMSF trustee expo in Melbourne last weekend. It was…